Packing list envelope



April 21, 1970 R. A. WERBY PACKING LIST ENVELOPE Filed Aug. 14. 1968 FIG. 2

FIG. I

l! l IIIIIIIL FIG. 4

FIG. 3

INVENTOR. RICHARD A. WERBY United States Patent 3,507,444 PACKING LIST ENVELOPE Richard A. Werby, 875 Waverly St., Framingham, Mass. 01701 Filed Aug. 14, 1968, Ser. No. 752,540 Int. Cl. B65d 27/00 U.S. Cl. 229-68 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An envelope for packing lists is made of two panels of polyethylene film or film and paper heat sealed along all four edges and with a slit or slot extending across the back panel to provide loading access to the interior of the envelope. The back panel is coated with pressure sensitive adhesive except for an area free of adhesive that includes part of the edge of the back panel to permit finger access for opening the envelope.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The field of the present invention includes envelopes particularly enclosures for papers such as packing lists and the like which are to be shipped with goods or other material in a separate container and to which the envelope of the present invention is adhesively applied by a pressure sensitive adhesive coating which permits the envelope to be attached to any convenient surface on the package for the goods.

Many forms of prior art packing list envelopes are known. Various forms which have come into widespread use in the recent past employ an envelope made of two panels of polyethylene sheet material which has been heat sealed around the peripheral edges of the panels to form an envelope with either one edge remaining unsealed or some form of slit or slot cut in one of the panels to provide access to the interior thereof. The back panel is generally coated with a pressure sensitive adhesive and a release liner paper protects the adhesive until the envelope is to be used at which time the release liner is stripped away to expose the pressure sensitive adhesive. Where one end of an envelope having a construction of this type remains unsealed, some form of flap is required to effect closure. If this flap portion is to be held down and adhesively secured to the package, so as not to provide a loose edge on the envelope when it is being used, various complications in the application of the pressure sensitive adhesive and release liner papers are required which add to the expense of the envelope and make it more diflicult and hence less attractive to the user.

Where the entire back panel is coated with adhesive and the closure for the access opening of the envelope is arranged to be sealed by the back panel adhesive or adhesive associated with a flap on the envelope, the problem of obtaining an initial grasp on the envelope for opening it exists since no free edge is available for gripping. In addition, where a slit is associated with the adhesive coated panel, the problem of stufiing the packing list into the envelope prior to application to the package is rendered difficult by the associated delamination of the release liner paper as the envelope is loaded. This procedure is further complicated by extrusion flow of the pressure sensitive adhesive from the cut edges of the coated panel and release paper liner. This extruded adhesive can bond with the front panel or bridge across the slit to make loading difficult and can adhere to the packing list enclosed.

A further disadvantage is present when the entire back of the envelope is adhered to the package because the envelope can be torn open only with some difficulty and 3,507,444 Patented Apr. 21, 1970 with consequent danger of tearing or otherwise damaging the packing list which is enclosed.

SUMMARY The present invention provides a packing list envelope which can be readily opened by providing a finger access area that is free of adhesive on the back panel which is attached to the package but at the same time does not present any loose flaps or complicated sealing arrangements. The preferred embodiments can be easily loaded with the enclosure and are free of the possibility of the pressure sensitive adhesive being extruded from the edge between the release paper and the back panel to form a bond with the front panel or with the article which is to be inserted into the opening. This freedom from adhesive extrusion is accomplished in conjunction with an improved feature for opening the envelope once it has been adhered to the package, with both features being achieved by not presenting the adhesive extrusion line between the back panel and the release liner in direct contact with the opposite adhesive extrusion line of the opening. In particular, when a slit is used as the opening, the coating of the adhesive is preferably stopped short of the slit line edge and where the adhesive comes to the edge of the opening the opening is made in the form of a slot so that the opposed adhesive extrusion lines are spaced by the width of the slot. While some extrusion can occur at the adhesive line in the slot, the fact that the slot is wide enough to prevent bridging of the adhesive and also to provide a direct finger contact with the front panel when the fingers are placed in the slot as the envelope is expanded for loading, makes the presence of any adhesive extrusion in the slot type construction of no consequence.

For opening the envelope, the absence of adhesive adjacent the slit line can be extended to the edge of the envelope, thereby to provide a finger access portion which can be lifted by the finger readily and torn along the existing slit to expose the contents of the envelope. Since the slit in the adhesive free area of the back panel is preferably located in a mid-portion of the back panel and not at the top or bottom edge thereof, there are no free flaps in the envelope when it is attached to the package which are subject to scuffing or accidental pull to open the envelope prematurely. Where the adhesive free line is generally parallel to the opening in the back panel, a cooperative action in tearing the envelope free of the package occurs, since the initial finger grip can either initially communicate with the slot or slit opening and thus be torn progressively in an adhesive free area or, if located adjacent the slot or slit, the initial finger grip can readily proceed by peeling to the adhesive free area surrounding the slot or slit to provide cooperation between the initial finger grip adhesive free area and the adhesive free area provided by the slot or the relative freedom of movement which the back panel has due to the presence of the slit.

Accordingly, it is the general object of the present invention to provide a packing list envelope which has no free or loose flaps when it is attached, which presents no problems of premature sealing due to adhesive extrusion along the slit line to complicate loading procedures, which can be prepared for application by a relatively simple exposure of a single back panel adhesive member and without auxiliary adhesive flaps or the like, and which when attached to a package provides a finger grip at some portion of the periphery by providing adhesive free areas which may in the preferred embodiment cooperate with the adhesive free area of the slot or the structural weakness associated with the slit to facilitate opening the envelope without danger of injury or tearing to the packing list or other contents thereof.

3 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an assembled view of one form of the invention with portions broken away to show the construction;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the construction shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 showing an alternate form of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 2 showing another form of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2 which show the assembled and expanded view of the same construction, the envelope in accordance with the invention comprises a front panel and a back panel 11 and a release liner 12. The front panel 10 and the back panel 11 are secured along their entire periphery by any suitable means such as a heat seal 13. The back panel 11 is coated over its surface with a pressure sensitive adhesive 14 except for a transverse area 15 which is free of adhesive. The adhesive free area 15 preferably extends on both sides of a transverse slit 16 which may be a single line cut as shown or a spaced double line cut to remove a strip of back panel 11 and release liner 12. The slits 16 extend completely across the transverse dimension of the back panel 11 and the release liner 12 and when the unit is assembled as shown in FIG. 1 the slits 16 in the back panel 11 and release liner 12 are substantially in registry. The panels 10 and 11 can be made of any suitable material such as polyethylene film or film for the front panel 10 and paper for the back panel 11.

Referring now to FIG. 3, an alternate embodiment of the invention is shown having substantially the same principal portions as that shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, comprising the front panel 10 and the back panel 11 and the release liner 12. The back panel 11 is coated with pressure sensitive adhesive 14, but has a substantial area which is not so coated by virtue of a cutout portion forming a slot 21. The slot 21 has substantial width and terminates inboard from the edges of the back panel 11. Aligned with the transverse slot 21 is a transverse area 22 at each end of the slot 21 which is free of adhesive and extends to the edge of the back panel 11.

The release liner 12 has a slot 23 cut therein, which is substantially the same size and shape as the slot 21 in the back panel 11. When the unit of FIG. 3 is assembled corresponding to the view shown in FIG. 1, the slots 21 and 23 are substantially in registry and provide a convenient opening for loading the envelope. In addition to the slot 23, the back panel 12 may have slits 24, which facilitate stripping the release liner 12 from the back panel 11 when the envelope is to be applied to the package. Once again, the front and back panels 10 and 11 are joined around their entire periphery as by a heat seal 13.

FIG. 4 shows still another embodiment of the invention in which the three elements of front panel 10, back panel 11 and release liner 12 are assembled with the front and back panels bonded around their entire periphery by heat seal 13. In the embodiment of FIG. 4 the back panel 11 is coated with pressure sensitive adhesive 14 except for a transverse strip 25, which is preferably located displaced from but parallel to slots 21 and 23 in the back panel and release liner respectively. The release liner 12 may also contain the slits 24 to facilitate peeling. In this embodiment two areas of the back panel 11 are free of adhesive 14, namely, the area encompassed by the slot 21 which is physically removed from the back panel and the area 25 which lies spaced from but substantially parallel to the slot 21. The adhesive free area 25 extends to the edge of the back panel 11 and is shown extending completely across the transverse dimension thereof, thereby providing a finger grip to start the peeling action which permits the removal of the envelope. This action may conveniently be initiated in the direction of the slot 21 by peeling the intervening adhesive to thereby further enhance removing the label and gaining access to the contents of the envelope.

In each of FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, it will be understood that all three layers ll), 11 and 12 are stacked together in registration with a heat seal bond around the entire periphery of the panels 10 and 11 and with a temporary adhesive bond between the back panel 11 and the release liner 12. The preferred location for the adhesive free areas and the size, shape and location of the openings to gain access to the interior of the envelope have been shown, but other arrangements will now be obvious to those skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. An envelope for packing lists and the like comprising:

a front panel;

a back panel substantially coextensive with said front panel and having an elongated transverse opening therein;

a marginal seal joining said front and back panels along the entire periphery of said panels to form an enclosure with access thereto through said transverse opening;

a layer of pressure sensitive adhesive on the exposed surface of said back panel except for a substantial area which is free of said adhesive, said substantial area extending to include a portion of the edge of said back panel and adapted for finger access to open said envelope when said envelope is adhered to the surface of a shipping container; and

a release liner covering the adhesive surface of said back panel and forming therewith adhesive extrusion lines at the boundaries of said layer of adhesive therebetween, said release liner having a transverse opening therein in substantial registry with said transverse opening in said back panel, said adhesive extrusion lines on opposite sides of said transverse opening being spaced a substantial distance to avoid bridging across said opening of adhesive extruded at said lines during normal storage of said envelope.

2. An envelope according to claim 1 in which said substantial area which is free of said adhesive is an elongated area substantially parallel to and overlapping said transverse opening in said back panel.

3. An envelope according to claim 2 in which said transverse openings are slits and said substantial area which is free of said adhesive extends on both sides of the slit in said back panel.

4. An envelope according to claim 2 in which said transverse openings are slots the ends of which terminate inboard from said marginal seal.

5. An envelope according to claim 4 in which said release liner has slits extending from the end of said slot to the edge of said release liner.

6. An envelope according to claim 4 in which said substantial area which is free of said adhesive includes the area of said slot and an area from at least one end of said slot to the edge of said back panel.

7. An envelope according to claim 1 in which said transverse openings are slots the ends of which terminate inboard from said marginal seal and said substantial area which is free of said adhesive is an elongated area substantially parallel to and displaced laterally from said slots.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,339,826 9/1967 Beskind 22968 DAVID M. BOCKENEK, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 22970, 8O 

